Several months ago I was asked to help a friend by creating an Illustration based on a dream someone had of terrible future events. This dream was detailed in their book which I was given a copy of and the illustration purpose (as I was told) was to draw attention to the writer and his work so that he may be able to book more speaking engagements. I explained to my friend, who had to repeatedly inform me they knew nothing about art or how to draw a straight line, that I am not a professional illustrator but an artist and art educator and that my style is very expressionistic, and they may not like it if they wanted something highly realistic. Well, after many detailed dialogues I finally came up with some ideas and presented them. I was told that I needed to reread the dream and be more realistic with the dream illustration. So I did, and as you can see, this is my image/illustration. I was asked to add a few more details to the image.

Final Illustration, Come out of that house, Kevin Casto, November 2011

So I added a few more details…maybe you can see what I did between the two images. I have to laugh because I believe that dreams are meant for the person experiencing the dream and not really meant to be illustrated to send a clear message to others, not having the dream like a movie. I took the assignment as a way to grab the attention of others to the message the speaker had to share because of experiencing the dream.

The Dream:

That night I heard Jesus’ voice in a dream, and the following Sunday I heard the preacher saying the exact words Jesus said to me in the dream: “Come out of your father’s old house and live in a new house on the rock of Jesus” (based on Luke 6:48f). At the time, I didn’t know that there is only One Almighty name by which man can be saved.

Anyway that job is over…

Let me know your thoughts on the work, the dream, or the problem of pleasing a client.